Australian Medical Association

The AMA Award for Excellence in Health Care is awarded to an individual who has made a significant contribution to improving health or health care in Australia.

This award is for an individual who has made a significant contribution to improving health or health care in Australia. The person may be involved in health awareness, health policy or health delivery. Nominees do not have to be doctors or AMA members.

The closing date for nominations is Friday 20 April 2012.

The AMA State Awards recognise the work of State and Territory AMAs in promoting the Association and the profession. The closing date for submissions is Friday 13 April 2012.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, today paid tribute to the many doctors and other health professionals who were honoured on Australia Day for their passion for their profession and their dedication to their patients and their communities.

Dr Hambleton said that the wonderful thing about the Honours is that they acknowledge achievement at the international, national and local level and they recognise excellence across all avenues of human endeavour.

The Gold Medal of the Association is the highest honour the Association can bestow.  It may be awarded to and bestowed on members of the profession who have rendered outstanding services to the Association, to the practice of medicine, or to the community, and shall not be awarded by virtue of holding any office or position within the Association, a State AMA, Craft Group or Special Interest Group.

The AMA President's Award is granted to a person, not necessarily a medical practitioner, who, in the opinion of the President, has made an outstanding contribution towards fostering the objectives of the AMA.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is the peak membership organisation representing the registered medical practitioners (doctors) and medical students of Australia.

The AMA promotes and protects the professional interests of doctors and the health care needs of patients and communities.

The AMA advocates on behalf of its members and the community at the Federal and State and Territory levels.

The AMA improves patient care by supporting the medical profession across a range of essential services.

Do you have a story about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health that needs to be told?

Would you like your work to be published in Australia’s leading general medical journal?

The Medical Journal of Australia is waiting for your contribution!

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, tonight presented the AMA President’s Award to Queensland obstetrician and gynaecologist, Professor Caroline de Costa.

The President’s Award is given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution towards fostering the objectives of the AMA in pursuit of a better health system for Australia.

Dr Pesce said that Professor de Costa had displayed outstanding commitment and perseverance in the area of women’s health.

“Professor de Costa has actively and fearlessly represented women’s interests in clinical work and advocacy for many years,” Dr Pesce said.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, tonight presented the Presidents and CEOs of the State and Territory AMA organisations with awards for outstanding work in lobbying and communication.

The categories for the awards were Best State Publication, Most Innovative Use of Website or New Media, Best Lobby Campaign, and Best Public Health Campaign.

The Medical Journal of Australia/Wyeth Australia award for the best original research published in the MJA was tonight awarded to a research paper that examined the effectiveness of point-of-care testing for therapeutic control of chronic conditions.

The paper – authored by a team of researchers from the University of Adelaide, Flinders University and the Flinders Medical Centre – was published in the 1 June 2009 edition of the MJA.

The authors – Tanya K Bubner, Caroline O Laurence, Angela Gialmas, Lisa N Yelland, Philip Ryan, Kristyn J Wilson, Philip Tideman, Paul Worley, and Justin J Beilby – set out to compare the clinical effectiveness of point-of-care testing (PoCT) and pathology laboratory testing, as measured by therapeutic control in chronic conditions.

A Victorian writer, researcher and playwright has won this year’s Ross Ingram Memorial Essay Competition for her essay – Healing our communities, healing ourselves – in which she reflects upon her life and her work and how it equipped her to work as an Aboriginal Research Officer looking into the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal children.

Jane Harrison is a descendant of the Muruwari people of New South Wales, from the area around Bourke and Brewarrina.  She grew up in the Victorian Dandenongs with her mother and sister.

Healing our communities, healing ourselves was published in the 16 May 2010 edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.